Monday, January 31, 2011

Angel Sister is finally here. The book is out there in stores and online. Some of my family and friends have received copies in the mail. Reviews are popping up. And I’m excited! So I want to share that excitement with you, my reading friends. Lorena Birdsong, the little girl character portrayed on the cover has been stealing people’s hearts at first glance. The best thing about the cover is that it does so accurately capture Lorena’s character and looks. Revell designs great covers for all their books. And look at the back cover. It shows Lorena and Kate, her “angel sister,” playing. I really like that, don’t you? I look happy enough about it all in my author photo and I couldn’t look any happier than I am.As I’ve told you before, this book is a story straight from my heart. And my mom’s heart. The events and characters all rose up out of that mysterious deep well that is a writer’s imagination and are completely fictitious, but that well was fed by the stories my mom and her sisters loved to tell about growing up in their small community of Alton, Kentucky during the 1930s. My Rosey Corner is the Alton of their memories. My Merritt family is very loosely based on their family. My grandmother and grandfather did love to read. My grandfather was a blacksmith and did at one time have a drinking problem. He did serve in France during World War I. That much of the story is based on fact. But he was a cook and didn’t have to go “over the top” and up out of the trenches into combat. My Fern and Graham are the fleshed-out characters brought to mind by the stories my aunts and mother told about some of the odder characters in their community. The place seemed to have more than its share of odd characters, including, as my aunt Bill used to say, “them” – the four Hawkins sisters. And then she would laugh. Just like she’s laughing in this picture that has to be my favorite photo of the four sisters. Bill, the youngest is second from left. Mom’s far left. Margaret is pointing, and Evelyn is on the right. Laughter suited them all. As my mom always tells me, they didn’t have a lot of things but they had a lot of what mattered – love. So I took the feeling of those wonderful memories they shared and from those seeds created my Rosey Corner and my family of four sisters. I am completely indebted to the first four sisters for the atmosphere and background of this story. The rest I made up by imagining how it might have been and what would have happened if. My mother is the only sister left now, but if my aunts were still living, I know they would have enjoyed going back to Rosey Corner with me. And now I’m hoping you’ll want to make that trip too.

The book has already gone into a second printing, and I’m told it may be featured in some Books-a-Million stores. So if that’s where you shop for books, give a look around for it. In my area, a great place to buy the book is at Corinth Christian Book Store in Frankfort. On February 11th at 7 p.m., they’re hosting a book launch for me and also for Virginia Smith with her new release, A Deadly Game. As the title gives away, her book is an inspirational suspense/mystery novel. We’ll both talk about our books and then have a Q&A time. If you can’t make that book launch, I’ll be doing a hometown book launch on Sunday, March 6 at 2 p.m. at the Anderson County Public Library here in Lawrenceburg. Again I’ll be talking about writing this book with special comments about how the setting is Alton, a little community in our county. I changed the name to Rosey Corner, but it’s the Alton my mom knew growing up. At the hometown event, I’ll be giving away a few door prizes. That always makes things more fun.

And of course I have to give something away here and on my website to celebrate a new book. I’m doing something a little different this time. Instead of books, I’m going to send four lucky winners $25 gift cards to either Christian Book or Amazon (their choice). So here’s how you can get your name in the drawings. Send me an e-mail. If you haven’t e-mailed me previously, you can contact me from my website, here. (I’m going to be changing my e-mail address soon. Boy, that’s a lot of trouble, but you can always contact me from the website.) I’ll pick one name out of the “everybody hat.” Then to give you more chances to win, I’ll have that special drawing like the last time for the “I never win anything” group. If you haven’t won before in one of my giveaways, be sure to indicate that. Last and the most fun, I’ll pick two names out of the “Tell me a story” hat. Last time you told me about special Christmas presents. That was so much fun, I want to do it again. Only this time you have to tell me a sister story. If you don’t have a sister by birth, you can tell me about a sister of the heart. It can be a funny happening. It can be why she’s a great sister/friend. It can be something special she’s done for you or maybe something not so nice that you laugh about now. Any story will get your name in the sister drawing. So if you send me an e-mail, plus tell me if you’ve never won anything here and share a sister story, you can have three chances to win. Of course I’ll be blogging about the sister stories because I know I’ll hear some good ones. Don’t worry, I won’t write about them if you ask me not to and I won’t reveal names. So get your e-mails and stories in. I’ll pick the winners March 1. The winners of the Christmas/New Year’s giveaways along with the books they chose and their surprise gifts too are posted on my website Events and News Page.

So send in those e-mails. And remember you can always keep up with me and join in the conversation on my blog, One Writer’s Journal, at www.annhgabhart.blogspot.com or on my author Facebook page. And I’m twittering too if you want to follow me there. Last don’t forget to check out my Events and News Page for places where we might meet in person or where you can read on-line interviews (usually with a chance to win an autographed book) on the blog. For you book club members, I’ve posted discussion questions for Angel Sister on the Angel Sister link of my website and I’d love to come visit your book club in person if you’re not too far away or by phone if the plane ticket’s too expensive.

Thanks for reading and in closing, here’s an old Irish blessing for you.

“May God grant you always…a sunbeam to warm you, a moonbeam to charm you, a sheltering angel so nothing can harm you.Laughter to cheer you. Faithful friends near you. And whenever you pray, heaven to hear you.”

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Under the lovely full moon,the fire begins to grow,blazing up in crackling swirls.The embers seem to glow and flyaround the surrounding area.Most of the embers,burn themselves out,butone or two slip into the skyand they fly and fly.

About Me

I am a married mother of 3 grown daughters and I have 2 granddaughters and 1 grandson. I currently have a gardening column in the Sunday's Advocate Messenger and I freelance for Kentucky Monthly magazine and Examiner.com.